The long way around
by Lsknight
Summary: So when I went ahead and decided to try and save my friends life I didn't think I would die, but then I met death and my life seriously got weird, o well better get ready for the reapers...yay.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: …..what the hell?!

 **First off before I being I would like it to be known this is my first fanfiction and I would love feedback, I am attempting something I have never tried before so I hope it will be interesting.**

 **I don't own Mass effect or any of its characters, I own only the oc's.**

Ok let me state for the record that I believe in a lot, vampires, werewolf's, ghosts, goblins all that supernatural stuff I even had zombie survive kit and book guide was a good read not as point and shoot as you might think, anyway I am stating this so when I said I don't believe there is a god I need you to understand why I was surprised about what happened.

See I lived in a little nowhere town in England, and to be frank I'm a no body, not a good fighter, not a fast runner or even that good looking so when I was walking in town with my friend, kind of a prick but the loveable kind, he was telling me about a club he had gone to a couple days ago more precisely the girl that worked at the bar and his shameless attempt to get in her pants I couldn't help but wonder if I should call him on his bullshit since he was currently sporting a black eye he says he got from a fight... yer he's a coward when it comes to conflict my bet was he got punched by the girl and wouldn't admit it, anyway as he talked and walked he turned round to watch some admittedly cute girls go by and being the loveable idiot he was, walked in the road as a car came shooting down the road, I acted on instinct I didn't even know I had and then….boom I got hit by the dam car, luckily I suppose how you look at it I hit the ground sideways and snapped my neck last thing I could see before I died was the surprised look on my friends face…..dick I just died for him and all he could seem to think was 'o god he really just saved my life!'…..ok maybe I'm being a bit hard on him I wasn't the one watching his best friend die for him.

Any way so when me the man who didn't believe in god suddenly found myself in a big white vast empty void with only a hooded figure in front of me with bone hands you can imagine my surprise.

"…ok….what the hell, wait no! no! In fact not hell not hell please!"

I said panicking I might have just asked to do to hell! I don't know how this works I was never religious for god sake!

But for a strange reason he….she….it ok! Death is a it!, anyway it started chucking and said in a voice I can only be described as nightmare fuel simply said "this should be…..entertaining"

Looking back on it now I have to admit….death is kind of a bastard…a all-knowing bastard but a bastard none the less, before I could say anything a blinding flash of light hit me and then….nothing….literality nothing, then BOOM I felt cold air on me, I was wet cold and felt very week, personally my own thoughts where 'the hell is going on! Why do I feel naked! Why do I feel like I can't even move my arms!

Then I felt something warm and kind of fluffy as someone seemed to hold me and then pasted me to something else, by this point I was just trying not to freak out over the fact I was being handled by something I can't even see, so as I was held I forced myself to open my eyes, it hurt like the light hurt my eyes as blurry shapes where over me, I started to freak out I was being held by something really big and it was just scaring me!

Then I heard it….a calming sound coming from the thing holding me…um ok it was strange to be honest, then I blinked and the shapes became clear to me….they were people, human people, two woman one holding me looked tired, but a loving smile on her face, the other was in what I could tell to be a uniform for some kind. So I did what any normal sane person would do…shouted at them.

"WHERE AM I? WHO ARE YOU? WHY AM I NAKED!"

Well that's what I tried to say what came out of my mouth was a kind of mumbling gurgle, both of the woman found it cute apparently because they both looked like I was a angel to them, at this point I calmed down and tried to look at my arms, my short stubby arms…

As I was doing this the woman where talking to one another.

"aaaaa Sarah he's adorable, and seems very aware for his age that's a good sign, so what are you going to call him?" said the woman in uniform a carm smile on her face, the woman holding me this 'Sarah' gently kissed my forehead and looked to the woman in uniform.

"I was thinking of Lee, after my grandfather Jamie's always liked the name".

Now as I stated before i wasn't much of a person, but even I could figure out that I had somehow become a baby to some random woman and as I slowly drifted off to sleep probably from being tired. Hay I was just born give me a break, all I could think was.

'so there is a god….and he's really a bastard'.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Figuring out what to do

 **So yer chapter 2….that is all enjoy.**

 **I don't own Mass effect or any of its characters, I own only the oc's.**

Ok so I've been 'alive' in this world for what I can tell to be about 5 years, I keep blacking out every now and then only catching glimpses for my new life I can only guess it's because of some stupid reason to get me to the point I'm actually going to have to pay attention to what's going on, plus it's good to not have to go through being a baby again, though I'm still able to remember everything from this new life up till now, something I wasn't able to do before, going to have to find out about that when I can, but from what I can remember about 2 years ago looking at something that was like a TV and seeing aliens with guns on a news report, aliens I recognize so I had been transferred to the mass effect universe and unlike so many fanfictions I wasn't sent as I was, I was BORN here…..the fuck!, I mean I guess that means if I'm going in to hell I don't have to worry about giving a back story but still I have to go the long way round admit, ok let's go over what I know, my names still lee thank god but a different surname being Addams, lee Addams…. I can live with that, brown hair still the same, and…Hu my eyes are different silvery instead of brown…..did I get gene modded before being born? Wait, its mass effect it's more than likely, o well bit strange but I can live with it.

Ok so from the look on my 'mothers' face it was the first time seeing aliens more precisely turians, so it might be the first contact war?, I don't know, and another black out, when I regain my senses I'm crawling around a vent, giving myself a look over I'm about 10 years old id say, sitting down and crossing my legs I took a moment to go over my new memory's, the ship I was born on had two changes since I was last in control, o yeah forgot to mention that I had been born on a cargo ship taking supply's to colonies my mother was a engineer, and my father was a solider and….well I haven't met him and I suspect he's dead, died in the first contact war as my mother seems to really, really not like turians, anyway the two changes where upgrades I don't understand and new crew, there's a salarian and a quarian, the salarian works in the loading bay she's called tunop ebena, she's kind of a stick in the mud and doesn't really like me, on more then one occasion has called me a nuisances, stupid frog lady, the quarian I like more he's called Fan'Hasar nar Nojol he works in engineering under my mother, I just call him Hasar, he's pretty cool and kind to always has time to answer my questions, apparently even started teaching me quarian, he gets along with my mother really well so that's a plus, and besides his suits main colour is green and green is the best colour ever….

Anyway so looking down the ventilation shaft I decided to keep moving down the shaft, I was probably just looking around trying to amuse myself, so yer im just going to continue with that, as I crawl along, I reach a vertical junction, ok so id assume going up is the bridge and down is engineering, so I decided to go up, supporting myself on the wall holding the service ladder I head up, but about half way up the ship suddenly shook violently coursing me to loose my grin.

Widening my eyes in fear I carnt believe this is happening again, the high will kill me I know it will, pulling my arms around me as I fall I close my eyes as not to see myself go splat thinking ' not again damit, this is how I die because I slipped, ITS NOT EVEN A COOL DEATH!'

Seconds tick by and nothing how deep was this thing…..and why do I feel tingly, slowly I open a eye to realize im not moving, looking down I see im about a couple inches from the bottom just floating in mid-air, that's when I notice the blue glow around me, and just as I pay attention to it, it vanishes and I hit the floor nearly quietly, my backside hurt like hell but at that moment I dident care because guess what apparently Im a biotic….IM A FREAKING BIOTIC!, quickly I slam myself no time to panic got to keep a level head now, ok so biotic never realy played as one in the games but from what I could see they could do I had the potential to be a freaking badass, maybe not jack badass but badass all the same, should I keep it to myself? On one hand that would be dangerous on the other the less I let slip the better id be at surprises….. yer no im telling people, better I be a train biotic then one who accidently killed everyone in a fit of rage, so I headed towards engineering.

It took me a little while but I finally made my way to engineering where my mother was talking with Hasar.

"Still we can't afford for another shake like that, the last one nearly knocked out life support and the captains already annoyed at us for that"

Hasar did what I could only assume to be a friendly smile under his helmate as he pointed at the data pad my mother was looking at.

"what if we inverted the polarity in the under plating it would course any external force to be repealed apon- oh hello lee"

Hasar was now looking to me my mother turn to face me smiling kindly as I walked to them a uncertain look on my face, time to play the child, my mother leaned down looking at me all the time.

"hello sweetie what are you doing here?"

I lowered my head to seem guilty about something.

"well, I was playing in the vents again, even when you told me not to and I fell when the ship shook."

My mother quickly looked worried an as she looked me, Hasar standing behind her noting nothing seemed wrong with me.

"o my god are you hurt? I told you not to play in there its danger's"

I quickly looked to her a small grin on my face.

"im fine mum but when I was falling a strange blue light was around me and I stopped falling and floated in the air, it was so cool! Like a super power!"

What followed was a couple weeks of testing and various doctor appointments, it turned out I was a natural biotic no need for the amps or in plants to use my ability's my mother tried to keep that on the down low but one day when we were getting supply's form earth my mother was approached by a man in alliance uniform, my mother to my surprise told him to right then and there to go fuck himself before pulling me on to the ship away from the man, it was a week later when I was training in my room to a holo tutorial for biotic's made by a asari did I finally decided that my best chance to get training for what's to come, was to join the alliance, the minimum age to join was 18 so for now, the plan was learn, practice and be patient.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Doing it Solider Style

 **I don't own Mass effect or any of its characters, I own only the oc's.**

So here I find myself 18 years old sitting in an alliance transport ship heading to boot camp, my mother hadn't taken the news well not wanting me to go the way of my father, who, as I had guessed, died in the contact war. There was a television playing the news talking about how the Baterians had left their embassy. In the last 8 years I had learned a lot about the universe, I even knew how to speak Quarian and had a pretty good grasp of my biotics, by the time I left the ship my mother was the captain, remarried to Fan'Hasar nar Nojol.

In retrospect I should have seen it coming, they got on really well and there were all the late nights they worked together in engineering. It was sad to leave the place I called home for 18 years but I said I'd keep in touch as much as I could, even got a hug from Tunop Ebena, for a stupid frog lady she kind of grew on you.

Anyway here I was looking out the window bored out my mind when someone coughed to get my attention.

"Excuse me, is this seat taken?"

Now let it be said I was an Ashley fan, so when it came to it I always left Kaiden behind to die, that said I would recognise that voice anywhere, turning to look at him, there he stood a 21-year-old Kaiden Alenko in standard alliance uniform like me his classic hair style in place, the style I call the Elvis. After quickly getting over the fact he was standing there I replied "no, be my guest man."

Smiling back Kaiden sat down before offering me his hand "thanks, Kaiden Alenko, nice to meet you"

Shaking his hand, I smiled right back, "Lee Addams"

The rest of the trip we talked about things, the fact we were both biotics he was surprised to hear I didn't need any amps to use my biotics effectively, we talked about our family's, sports teams and what kind of training we would likely be put through, never of us where looking forward to it there was a couple jokes about who would bitch first, I was planning on winning some credits on that one.

By the time we landed at the boot camp we were pretty good friends, I kind of felt like a dick for leaving him to die… a lot, anyway, as the transport landed we grabbed our bags and headed off the transport to be sorted out, we all lined up outside the ship and where designated barracks, I was in the Havoc barracks and Alenko was in Delta barracks, nodding at him and promising to speak later we went our separate ways to our barracks.

The barracks were what you would expect from the military, a bunch of simple beds lined up in the room, 6 beds in total, I took the one closest to the back, better to see who would be coming in. We were soon joined by 3 guys and 2 girls, who started to set up like I did. After a while another man joined us, an older looking black man with a scar over his right eye in standard officer clothes, I swear he looked exactly like Samuel L. Jackson, even sounded like him as he shouted.

"All right maggots! Line up and stand at attention!"

We all quickly followed the order lining up at attention, as the officer walked up and down the line giving us a glare "The alliance has seen fit to appoint you maggots to me, to turn you into respectable solders of our glorious alliance! You will not enjoy this! I am not your friend! I am not your mother! I am your worst fucking nightmare! This training will break you, re-forge you and then break you again! By the end of it you will be the respectable solders!"

I wasn't ashamed to say at that moment, I was a bit scared by what came next, I learned that meant lots of pain, the officer smiled, not a kind smile, the kind smile of I expect would put the devil to shame as he stopped in front of us.

"I am staff sergeant Grey! And as of this moment your asses belong to me! Welcome to hell maggots!"

The sergeant wasn't kidding what came next had to be the worst year of my life and I had to live thought it all no more skipping it would seem… damn it, 40 mile runs, constant push ups and sit ups, so much hand to hand training. By the end of the third month I had all but memorize how to disassemble and reassemble the standard issue assault rifle. We learned that the Barracks where separated in to the units we would be with when we graduated so when we did we would be Havoc squad… that sounded familiar to me but I just couldn't place it. Anyway, the reason me and Alenko were not on the same squad was because we were both biotics and it was one biotic per squad, and let me tell you military training for biotics was a lot different than from the vids, I hated every moment of it and I, on more than one occasion, passed out from the metal stress, but by the end of it I could do a lot more then I used to.

My squad was a ok bunch as well, there was Clay Norman he was a quiet guy with a standard buzz cut, had a hell of a right hook thought. Then there was Sammy Fox we called him the Mad Fox as no matter what sergeant Grey did he found a way to piss him off even more than we all thought possible again and again. Next was Chad Brown, do not be fooled by the name, he was the complete opposite to anything butch he was as gay as physically possible, I on more than one occasion caught him staring at my ass… still not sure how to feel about that, kind of flattered and creeped out at the same time, dude makes great pancakes though. After them, we have the two females of our group Marion Soto and Natasha Morena, Marion was a Japanese lady and probably the most level headed of us when we needed a plan she was the one we turned to. Now Natasha Morena, probably the scariest bitch I've ever met, when she attacked you, you would always remember we called her the Sadistic Empress because she didn't just beat you, she crushed you with look of pure pleasure in her eye when doing it, sad part was whenever we went out for drinks she would find the most innocent looking guy in the bar and by morning she would have broken the poor, or lucky, guy, depending on your perspective.

Other than that I kept my promise and stayed in contact with my mother and Hasar, they had apparently branched the crew out again with other aliens and even a Turian to my surprise. Kaiden and I were basically best friends, he was a good guy but for love of god do not eat his cooking… just don't.

But after a year of training we all stood in dress uniforms at the graduation, we had done it and for the first time I could say the smile on sergeant Greys face didn't scare me, it was a smile of pride. After the ceremony Havoc had two plans get drunk and get a tattoo not in that order mind you. So after hitting a local tattoo artist we had all got Havoc inked on our backs with our emblem just under it, then it was to the bar for a long night of celebrating and drinking. I drunk Kaiden under the table and downed a cup of raycol, woke up the next morning in a hotel with a headache and an Asari getting dressed, she gave me a wink as she left, never did get her name.

My squad spent the next couple of years on board the SSV Halberd, doing patrol missions along colonies, we had a couple fire fights but overall we didn't see much action. I spent my time learning all I could and even started designing a armour idea I had, what came as a surprise was when we caught Sammy and Natasha coming out of a janitor's closet giggling with each other, apparently the two had been dating since graduation and had hidden it from us pretty well, we didn't even know if we were meant to feel frightened at that match up or happy for them.

Which brings us to now, the year is 2176 CE(Council Era) 3 months ago some Batarian pirates attacked the colony of Elysium and it would have been toast if not for the fact that Jane Shepard was on shore leave there when the Batarian's attacked. Shepard rallied a resistance force and managed to single-handedly repulse the enemy ground force long enough for reinforcements to arrive, she was being hailed as a hero and the alliance was using her as a poster girl, Jane Shepard the lioness of Elysium, hero of the Skyllian Blitz.

What they didn't let on was that on that day the Batarian's had in fact raided 3 colonies and ships for weeks on end, close to 3000 humans had been taken, to be sold as slaves for the four eyed freaks. My squad was a part of a coordinated attack on 4 separate pirate controlled stations, it was where most of the slaves where currently being held. Currently my team was sitting in a transport shuttle, I had my omni-tool on and was working on project of mine, Soto stooped in front of us as the transport got closer, she was the squad leader, I deactivated my omni-tool as she activated hers, show a map of the station.

"Alright, we are attacking the alpha station, while rose squad is going to enter from the left docking bay to draw attention and get to the slave pens. We have two targets, Lee, you and Clay will be heading for the engineering, I want full control of that station in case we need it, everyone else we're heading for the command deck to cut the head off the snake, as it were. I won't lie people we're heading into an unknown situation, we have a rough idea of numbers but not exact, we will be fighting for every inch of ground we cover"

There was a moment of silence as Soto let that hang in the air, till Sammy opened his mouth. "So basically what your saying is they stand no chance against the storm that is havoc" you could feel the confidence in his voice, he had a shit eating grin on his face right now. Soto just chuckled as the lights in the transport went red, she slipped on her helmet and we all stood up, time to get to work.

The transport buckled as we docked, I drew my pistol as the hatch opened and I instantly put up a barrier, exiting the transport first and the others following. We were in a hallway, alarms going off all over, it seemed rose squad were already at work, looking to Soto I nodded before lowering the barrier and heading left towards engineering, Clay on my six. It took us about 5 minutes before we ran in to some Batarians, Clay started laying down covering fire while I put another barrier up, it didn't take us long to clear them out as we kept going.

"This is havoc 2, we're 5 minutes to objective, haven't run in to too much resistance, would advise you guys cover your backs, just in case" either these pirates were stupid or we were just lucky. I hear Soto over the radio "Copy that havoc 2, a lot more resistance on our end, proceeding to objective, over and out".

Oh good the leader of these pirates was just trying to cover his own backside, how lovely, makes my job easier I guess, looking to Clay he just shrugged, always the talker that one. Anyway we continued towards engineering taking out a couple more Batarians along the way until we reached the door to engineering. Tapping the controls for the door I had to sigh in annoyance, it was locked meaning we had a fight waiting for us inside, pulling up my omni-tool I started the hack, "Clay cover me, hacking the door, get ready for a fight" I told him.

He just nodded as he turned to cover the hall way while I worked, it was actually impressive program, but it's got nothing on a Quarian's hacking program, got to remember to thank Hasar for those lessons. As I gained control of the door systems, I signal clay to the other side of the door and draw my rifle, looking to him he gives me a 3 second count down on his fingers. As he lowers the last one I hit the door control and the door flies opened followed by a hail of bullets. I peak around just quick to get a lock on where they were before and pulling back just as quick. Looking to Clay I signed 6 combatants, 3 to the left 2 to the right and 1 in the middle, and counted down from 3, he nodded understanding what I was telling him and after a count we popped around the door, firing back at them. Our shields took a hit before I hit them with a biotic lift, it was kind of funny to watch their shocked expressions as they floated in the air before we put a bullet in each of their heads. Entering the engineering room, the door closed behind us and I got to work hacking the station's controls.

"How long will it take?" Clay asked as he monitored the door in case we get company, "Shouldn't be that long, for some reason they have better security on their doors then their other systems, just have to get through the back laying code algorithm aaaaaaaaand we are in business. Alright call up Soto, let her know we will have control any moment now" I tell him with a grin on my face.

Clay nods as he calls up Soto to inform her of our progress as I kept working taking over the systems, for a bunch of slavers they had a lot of files, very documented. If I was to guess there was 5 maybe 10 years' worth of records from the transactions these guys have done, I didn't even want to think of the number of slaves that would be, but hopefully this would lead to more of them getting found and freed.

"Hey Addams they got the bastard, the prick was trying to get control back in the bridge" Clay called leaving me to smile as I started the downloaded files.

"Freed slaves, pirates dealt with and I just got their files for the last 10 years, score one for havoc squad"

All in all, it was a good day.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: God Damnit

 **I don't own Mass effect or any of its characters, I own only the oc's.**

It had been just under a year and havoc had been doing what we do best, kicking ass and taking names, and we're all out of paper to write on. After 4 other missions we were drafted in to 120th unit, they were a good bunch of solders and we were only there because they were mostly all new solders and needed some experienced people to start showing them the ropes as it were. With us the unit was about only 50 people, while small it was basically an over staffed scouting unit.

We were stationed on the U.S.S. Breaker, the ship had been patrolling the outer colony's as the Batarians still hadn't gotten the hint that you don't fuck with humanity and get away with it. Anyway the Breaker was en route to a colony to respond to a distress signal that had popped up about 2 hours again. Soto and the other officers had been in the briefing, I hadn't and frankly I was busy with other things, my armour design was finished but the problem was I hadn't had the time to go get it made. I was working on my second project that I was straight up stealing from my favourite game in my old life other than mass effect.

Along with that I had been showing some of the newer biotics some tricks I had picked up over the years, they were pretty good but with me packing the potential of an Asari Matriarch, by now they would always be below my level. Something had been bugging me though, the data kept popping in to my head, the year was 2177 it was like an itch at the back of my head. Something important was about to happen, but I just couldn't remember what.

Anyway we arrived at the planet in question and started to arm up and as we filed in to the ground ships the annoying feeling didn't go away so I tried to shake it off and pay attention to what was being said around me. Havoc was in high spirits and to be fair we had earned it, we were beginning to earn a reputation for getting the job done not on Shepard level just yet but I was confident we would reach it soon.

"So who booked in to leave after the Breaker finally gets back to normal space?" I asked the squad most of them said they were, Soto wouldn't be though, apparently she had been nominated to go take part in the N7 program. She deserved it, a good leader and a hard worker. After this I was going to go spend time with my mother, I hadn't seen her in a long time and frankly I was a bit home sick surprisingly.

The transport landed soon after, and we filed out, grouping to gather with the unit. Soto had been put in charge for the mission so on her order we headed towards where the colony and distress beacon should have been. We marched for a of couple hours and you could see the sun going down in the distance, what we arrived to was a ghost town, the colony was effectively a small fortress, they must have just been starting out, shame. The main gates were wide open and other then a couple of damage buildings the place was in working order, that was when I heard Soto over the radio "alright people I want the whole place swept, we'll hunker down here tonight if needed fan out and look over everything"

With that order we fanned out and searched the area, it was strange though, it was clear they all left in a panic, the small armoury was empty and it was obvious they had been in a hurry. What was annoying me though was we couldn't find any foot prints leading away from the little colony.

After about an hour of looking it was clear we wouldn't find anything tonight so we set up in the colony, most of the troops just went to sleep others stayed in groups just hanging out but that damn feeling wouldn't shift. With a sigh I went and stood at the colony entrance just looking out at the world that would be a new home for people.

"Little dust ball hardly seems worth the effort to colonize if you ask me" a voice said behind me. Looking back I could see Clay had walked over his rifle on his back, I chuckled and looked back out at the world.

"Well you're not wrong, I would have figure they would have terraformed it by now, but no they just dump a bunch of people in the middle of nowhere and say get this place liveable. You would think with the Batarians still up to no good. You would think they'd stop the expansion projects for a time"

It was Clay's turn to chuckle with a shrug. "The logic is probably to just show the Batarians we aren't afraid of them, so here we stand in the newest little colony to fail in that area it would seem" he looked to the sky and flipped it off "You see this you four eyed bastards, Akuze is not your's, it's our shitty dust ball!"

I just shook my head laughing as he flipped off the sky "you've been hanging out with Sammy too much Clay, he's starting to….." it was like a penny had just dropped as I realize what planet name he just said looking to him I had a look of pure horror on my face "did…did you just say Akuze?"

Clay looked to me a bit confused at my sudden change in attitude, of course if he knew what was coming next he would have shared my look. Clay didn't even get a chance to reply before it happened, they came with no warning one second it's nice and calm the next a thresher maw shot up through one of the buildings some of our troops had been sleeping in, destroying it completely.

What followed could only be described as a massacre as three more shot up out the ground, spitting acid around us. Me and Clay ran back towards the others firing at the closest Thresher Maw, the other troops doing the same. We might as well have just been throwing rocks at them all for the good it did. Looking ahead I could see one of the acid spits heading for Soto, I dropped my rifle and throw up a barrier over her as me and Clay reach her.

"We need to go now! If we stay where good as dead!" I shouted as I tried to keep the barrier up. Clay was looking around for the rest of our squad "Soto did you see where the others where?!"

The look Soto gave was not one I would forget anytime soon. "Natasha and Sammy were in the building the first one took out, there dead, I don't know where Chad was and I haven't seen him since this started"

As if two of our friends dying wasn't a big enough kick to the balls for us, as if timed a body hit my barrier and flopped down in front of us, it was Chad, his armour badly melted everything below the waist was gone and his face was froze in a look of pure horror. It was all we needed, I dropped my barrier. The three of us took off running towards the entrance, all around us the sound of gun fire, shouts of pain and horror could be heard we dodged rubble as the Thresher Maws continued to destroy what was left of the colony.

We got to the gate and looked behind us, the colony was all but gone and the unit with it, I couldn't believe my eyes I always thought the survivor backstory was cool, but being here, seeing it happen, hearing all the death. I couldn't stop… it made me sick even with all the fighting I've seen in this life time.

"Dear mother of god" Clay said beside me, I was about to reply when two of the tentacles of the thresher maw shot up and grabbed Soto and Clay. I had a split to grab both of their hands and increase my mass with my biotics as they were getting pulled away but it was worth all but not as Soto was pulled away, her screams like that of the angry dead screaming out for vengeance. I grabbed Clay's other hand and pulled with all I had, increasing my mass again. I looked him dead in the eye, I could see the look of pain and fear in his eyes, I wasn't loosing another one "don't let go, don't you dare let go!" I all but shout at him, for a moment I could see the look in his eyes, the look of hope then there was a sound I won't forget for the rest of my life, the sound of flesh ripping and bones breaking and Clay went quiet as we fall back.

I landed on my back Clay on top of me, or at least the top half of him. I quickly pushed what was left of the corpse of my friend and back pedal looking around the unit was gone, the colony was gone, my squad…..my friends were gone. I needed to run, if I don't run, then I will never make it to help Shepard in the future.

I turned ready to run with all I had, when I heard it, that low rumbling, the ground starts shaking and I don't even need to look down to know what's coming next. I had time to flare my biotics again before a Thresher Maw shoots up out the ground right under me, swallowing me whole and taking out the gate at the same time.

It was a strange sensation, being eaten I can honestly say it's a feeling you will never feel at any other time, then the pain came. It turns out that the inside of a Thresher Maw is lined with the acid they were shooting at people. My biotics slowed it down, but didn't stop it fully, pain was strongest on my left arm I was going to die here inside a fucking over grown worm.

I have to get out

I've got to get out

Let. Me. Out

I mentally shouted in my head as my biotics seemed to light up like the sun and the next thing I know the feeling of a barrier going up around me and expands till I was out in the open again as I felt the ground. I could see the Thresher Maw I was just in, split in half my barrier had expanded till it ripped through the bugger.

With a thud I landed on my back, and my biotics finally fizzled out of existence, I was tired, in extreme pain and I couldn't feel my left arm. 'Well, if this is how I die… at least I killed a thresher maw...' was my last thought as my vision went dark and I slipped in to unconsciousness.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: The Roads We Walk

 **I don't own Mass effect or any of its characters, I own only the oc's.**

The first thing I noticed when I opened my eyes was a white ceilings and the strong smell of disinfectant, tilting my head to the left I could see some medical monitoring equipment.

Hospital.

With some effort I managed to sit up, then I realized something… I couldn't feel my left arm. I look to my left and saw the reason I couldn't feel my arm, where it should have been was nothing but a bandaged stump just under my shoulder.

"Well then… that's something" I said just as the door opens and a nurse walks in, a human with short blond hair and blue eyes. She looked at me with a soft smile "Well it's good to see you awake mister Adams. I'll be right back, I need to get the doctor" with that she quickly walks out the room leaving me to my thoughts again.

She returned with a tall gentlemen with black hair "you had us worried for a while there Mister Adams, you've been out cold for nearly two months now".

That gave me a moment to pause 'two months?' it was a bit disconcerting to think I was unconscious for that long. The doctor was now checking the monitoring machines "How do you feel mister Adams? I'm sure you've got a lot of questions on your mind".

He wasn't wrong but I needed to get the basics now "a… little right sided" I managed to say, a weak smile on my face. In the corner of my eye I saw the nurse wince a bit, clearly my sense of humour wasn't her cup of tea. "Where am I? How did I get here?" I finally ask as the doctor turned to me.

"In order? You're in the Roberts memorial hospital, it's an Alliance hospital on Eustea colony. You were brought here after the equipment on the S.S.V Breaker was unequipped to handle your injures" the doctor said as he walked to me and checked my pulse manually.

"How's our marine doing doctor?" says a very familiar voice coming from the door. I look over at said door to see none other than admiral freaking Hackett and on instinct I tried to salute but all that happened was my stump flailed around a bit, it drew a look from all three of the other occupants in the room… it was a really awkward moment "sorry I was…trying to salute sir….always did it with my left hand….sir" this got a chuckle form Hackett as he smiles softly at me "given the current circumstances I can let it slide this one time. Doctor could you give us the room for a moment"

The doctor nods and leaves with the nurse, the door sliding closed behind them. Hackett turned to me a serious face on now "what happened down on Akuze Adams? When a shuttle team went down to see why radio contact had been lost all they found was a couple bits of rubble half a thresher maw that looked like it swallowed about 10 grenades at once and you on your death bed. What little was left of your armour had acid burns on it and… you know what happened to your arm"

I looked away from him out the window to look at the colony and started giving a complete report of what happened down there, the more I talked the sicker I felt. All those people were dead, my team was gone and here I was alive, a bit roughed up but alive. It took be about half an hour to finish and we sat there for five more minutes in silence "I know it's hard to believe but with time you'll be alright, you'll never forget and the pain of losing friends will never go away but it will have lessened, in time" with that Hackett leaves me to my thoughts.

For 6 months I'd been on the colony planet, they discharged me from the hospital, but I had to have weekly meetings with a counsellor, a psychiatrist basically and hadn't been put back in active duty yet. I hadn't slept much ever, I kept waking up in the middle of the night seeing them all die again and again, over and over. I'd talked to the counsellor about it and she said it was survivors guilt, for being the only one to get off the planet alive. She could have been right with everything that had happened, add the fact that they promoted me for surviving and I'd had basically daily calls from different scientific and military groups to ask about the fact I managed to extend a barrier that quickly in a space with a lot of pressure on it. I was getting frustrated and the fact that I know it's not a random attack or an accident or that I was the only survivor, Cerberus and corporal Tombs, so I did everything I could to stay active, for one I finial had the time to put together the armour I designed it looked like a cross between Cerberus trooper armour and their assassin's armour, including glowing red eyes. It looked intimidating as hell and completely black, about a month back the alliance had me fitted with a new prototype prosthetics arm, it looked scarily like the geth arm but if humans built it. My arm wasn't the only new thing that had changed about me, I had grown a small beard that covered my face but didn't have much length off my face, my hair had grown about the length of a small pony tail.

They had set me up in a little apartment that at this point looked like a dump, but in the living room I had changed in to a work shop, this is where I had been working on my second project, you see I had an idea that involved mass effect fields, if I could regulate the flow around an area to simulate the effect or a biotic push but with a lot more power behind it the I could effectively make a close range weapon that would give even a Krogan in a charge a reason to run in fear, the problem I was having was power consumption and well… it kept exploding on me… I lost a good recliner because of it too, then I heard the most wonderful thing that could possibly happen to me short of the council making me a spectre, an old school theatre was going to have the last performance of a rewrite of an old earth play and who was listed on the cast, Mordin Solus. Sometimes it pays to be in the right place at the right time, the play wasn't the best, Mordin was on top form as he was in the second game and then he sung that freaking song "I am the very model of a scientist salarian, I've studied species turian, asari, and batarian. I'm quite good at genetics (as a subset of biology) because I am an expert (which I know is a tautology). My xenoscience studies range from urban to agrarian, I am the very model of a scientist salarian." I couldn't help but smile at hearing it now all I had to do was get a moment of his time, once the play was finished I made my way back stage. I was surprised I got back there to be honest but I guess they didn't think anyone would want to kill some actors. Anyway I made my way to Mordin's Dressing room and slipped in to see him just finish changing to in normal clothes, he looked at me a bit half curious half cautious, before I could talk Mordin beat me to it. "hum, human, male, prostatic arm, to advanced for civilian, build shows combat experience solider, in civilian cloths not on duty, side arm out of caution trauma patient…akuze survivor, what can I do for you mister Adams?"

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised you know who I am, as I know who you are Doctor Solus and was hoping to get your help on a project of mine, it's a mass effect field generator, but more compact" walking over to him I gave him my data pad with the blueprints to my project on it, he studied it for a minute before he started rubbing his chin "interesting, mass effect field to generate a push, at least ten times the power of a normal biotic ability."

I smiled a bit at hearing him work, it was a pleasure to see the gears in his mind turning "the problem I'm having is finding a suitable power source that won't over load the fields when it makes contact with a target and exploding on me without sacrificing the power behind it", Mordin nodded at that before looking to me "could see that being a problem, could implement a kinetic absorbing component, make the mass effect field absorb the mass of the target in to the power source, charge as attack, could be dangers in wrong hands"

I'd expected this, I was going to be honest and hope for the best "I won't lie Doctor, this could replace the omni-blade as an effective close range weapon, and I have full intention of using it as such, but I'm about to in bark out on a different career change, but I promise you everything I'm about to do is for the good of everyone, I plan on putting a DNA register in the handle, if anyone else try's to pick it up the mass effect fields will increase the weight till it can't be lifted even by a Krogan" with that I stood and waited till Mordin made up his mind. He stood there studying me, felt like he was looking into my soul. Then he turned to my data pad and typed for about ten minutes before handing the pad back to me, the blueprints changed. "Don't make me regret this, feel like you're a good man, would hate to have to kill you because you lied, one more thing, what are you calling it?"

With a smile I took the pad and turned to leave opening the door before I left "I was thinking of calling it, a Gravity Hammer" as I closed the door I could swear I heard him say interesting.

It had been a month since I'd met with Mordin and since then had finished the hammer, I'd also purchased a ship, the Puddle Jumper, a small ship made for at least two people to live in, it's got some simple weapon and shield systems but I could upgrade them as I went. I just finished moving in to the ship and currently writing my resignation from the alliance army's. I still had a lot of time before I had to worry about Shepard and the Normandy and that side of things, so for now I'm going to go do my best to piss off the illusive man and Cerberus, I had no evidence to hand to the alliance to prove it was them, and I know my medical leave will run out sooner or later so for now at least my hunt for them is my own. With the writing done I sent it to the alliance HR department and closed up my ship.

Time for a little pay back, havoc style.


End file.
